Metroid: Solitude
by Davin Sunrider
Summary: Shortly after the events of Metroid Prime, Samus encounters some thieves who have stolen her new ship. But her pursuit of them leads into a much grander adventure. DISCONTINUED. See my other story of the same name for the rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

One

Approximately 48 hours after the conclusion of Metroid Prime

_Tallon IV _

Samus Aran sat alone at the controls of her gunship, far above the planet Tallon IV. A few days ago, she had destroyed a large Space Pirate base of operations, and had vanquished the loathsome creature the Space Pirates called Metroid Prime, avenging the Chozo it had murdered with its radioactive Phazon.

At present, Samus had no other jobs to do, so she had set her ship to orbit the planet while she recovered from the injuries she had sustained during her battles with Ridley and Metroid Prime.

Samus leaned back in her chair and put her arms behind her head. Her Chozo powersuit stood behind her like a giant metal sentinel. Sometimes, when she was bored or had to think about something, she would talk to the empty suit like it had a mind of its own. She recalled that, as it was being designed for her by the Chozo, they had offered to give it limited artificial intelligence to assist her in her missions. She had rejected the voice systems, saying that it would distract her if the thing was talking to her while she was blowing away Space Pirates, but accepted the mission-assistance programs and upgraded sensors.

"Oh, well," she said to the empty suit, "at least I got some upgrades while we were down there. I think that plasma beam might come in handy on my next job." Samus stared into the blank visor for a moment.

An alarm on her console beeped at her. Samus swung her chair back around to face the bank of monitors and keyboards. "Well, well, what have we here?" she said as she enhanced the magnification.

A ship had reverted to realspace a few thousand kilometers away. As she studied its outline, she didn't immediately recognize the design, but it looked vaguely familiar somehow.

There was nothing for parsecs around this system. Nobody would just stumble across Tallon. That was why the Chozo had chosen this world. If somebody was here, they were either looking for her, the Chozo, or the Space Pirates.

Samus wasn't taking any chances She activated the cloaking device and cut the lights. Now the other ship's sensors, if they registered her gunship at all, would dismiss it as floating space junk. She set the laser cannons to slow charge, so she could blow the other ship away if it made any hostile moves.

Samus Aran waited, like a spider in its web, to see what would happen next.

Davin Ortry hit the braking thrusters on his ship and set the sensors for system-wide sweep. He had finally figured out where the Space Pirate frigate had fled to, and it was payback time. Some of the pirates on this particular frigate were among the ones who had murdered his entire family except his younger sister Malysa, who was dozing in her bunk a few meters away. He thought she was too young to be tearing around this sector with him, one step ahead of the Galactic Federation and the Space Pirates. Both organizations were after the Ortrys for the theft of certain high-tech weapon systems and this ship, which they had lifted from a Federation shipyard a few months ago, before it was to be sent off to some bounty hunter.

But, they didn't have any family Davin could leave her with while he pursued his revenge on the pirates who had murdered their parents. He still had nightmares about hiding under his parents' bed, trying to keep his little sister quiet while the brutes ransacked the house, stepping over the bodies of his mother, father and uncle as they smashed all the furniture, looking for something. Davin still didn't remember what, try as he might.

Malysa stumbled into the cockpit and mumbled something unintelligible at him.

"What?" he said. "Try that again."

She shot him a glare that teenage girls the universe over have mastered, and repeated, slower this time: "Are we there yet, dweeb?"

Davin grinned and shook his head. "Sure thing, banshee. We came out of hyperspace just a couple minutes ago."

Malysa yawned, showing off the overlarge canine teeth that were an Ortry family trait, and adjusted her T-shirt, an old one of Davin's. Personally, Davin enjoyed his unsettling smile, but Malysa hated hers and was always bugging him to let her get them fixed. "I look like a vampire!" she often reminded him. Of course, he would then remind her that it was better to look scary in their present line of work.

She ran her fingers through her tousled electric blue hair in an attempt to straighten it. Her natural color was jet black, the same as Davin's, but she frequently changed it, depending on her mood and on how the teen vid stars were wearing theirs.

Davin shook his head again. He personally thought she looked ridiculous, but he was trying to let her have as normal a childhood as possible. If the girl wanted to dye her hair and get fake tattoos, she was welcome to it as long as none of it was permanent. At sixteen, she was beginning to mellow out a little, but she still had her quirks. Still, sometimes he was glad he brought her along. It got lonely out there on the spacelanes, and he was glad to have someone to talk to in the monotony of hyperspace.

He reached over and mussed her hair as she sat down beside him in her custom, ultra-comfortable chair, one of the few things he had splurged on when he got this ship retrofit at a black-market shipyard a few parsecs from here.

She adopted a mock-furious expression and stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes. Malysa stretched her fingers and settled them over her keyboards as the teenage computer wizard prepared her own sensor sweeps. She reminded him every once in a while that he didn't know how to use the sensors properly, and he should just let her do it. Of course, he let her think whatever she wanted.

"Do we have the ugly buggers this time, or is this another red herring?" she asked as she reviewed the sensor readings. Malysa's hatred for the Space Pirates matched Davin's own.

Davin pointed at one of his own monitors. "This drive signature is a couple days old, but it's definitely the _Orpheon_. Looks like it had a reactor problem and crashed on the planet somewhere. I don't know what this other one is, the one that follows it down there."

His sister peered at her screen. "Looks similar to readings I've seen of Samus Aran's ship. Think maybe that Aran guy was here and went down to take a look? This was going to be his ship before we uh... appropriated it." She cocked her head. "I hope Aran isn't still here. I've heard he gets painful revenge on people who screw him over."

Davin chuckled, but raised the shields anyway.

Samus continued to peer intently at the newcomer. Suddenly, it popped into her head where she'd seen that ship before. It had taken her a few minutes because it looked so radically different from the last time she'd seen it. It was her ship, the one the Federation was building special for her in appreciation for the countless jobs she'd taken on for them over the years. She'd almost punched a hole in the monitor when she'd gotten the communique from the Federation shipyard, saying that her new ship had been stolen and had escaped into hyperspace before the Fed ships had been able to catch it.

That was it, all right. It had more weapon emplacements, and another pair of engines besides the ones the original design had called for, but it was definitely her new ship. Instead of the original orange and black, it was now midnight blue with gunmetal accents.

Samus chuckled softly to herself. Whoever had modified it had done an excellent job. After she threw the thieves out the airlock, she might keep most of the modifications, if they were up to her own personal standard.

Her hand hovered over the firing control for the forward ion cannon. Before she fired, Samus stopped herself. What were the thieves doing in the Tallon system, anyway? Did they know she was here? She decided to ask them before she blew them into space. It would satisfy her curiosity, anyway.

The back of Davin's neck began to tingle a few moments before the first blast hit them. From the way Malysa was scratching, he knew she felt it, too. Something wasn't right.

"Davin, let's go. Something creepy's going on here." He wasn't sure, but Davin thought he detected a tremor in her voice.

"Way ahead of you, sis." Davin began slapping controls, arming the lasers and preparing to dive for the questionable safety of the planet. "Go make sure my suit's charged up, and get in an EV suit just in case."

Malysa must have been scared. She didn't even pretend to argue with him. She was on her way to the back when an ion blast hit them on the port side, only partially deflected by the augmented shields Davin had designed and installed himself.

Another supercharged blast hit them again in the same spot and almost flipped the ship on its axis. He heard Malysa grunt in pain as she was thrown into the wall, and a muttered curse as she picked herself up.

Davin wrestled with the controls as he strained to see where their attacker was. His sensors weren't registering anything.

"They must have a cloaking device. Man, do I wish we had one of those!" Davin quickly wiped some sweat out of his eyes and took the ship into a barrel roll, followed by a stomach-twisting corkscrew maneuver as he looped back in the direction of the hyperspace point. No point in crashing on the planet.

Their opponent wasn't going to allow that. A third ion blast blew a hole in the shields long enough for the other ship to slip a missile in and take out the rear shield generator.

"Who _is_ this guy?" he heard Malysa hiss from behind him.

"Beats me. He's on me like stink on a Space Pirate. I can't shake him!" Davin threw a few of his choicer curse words at the enemy ship, wherever it was. If this kept up, they were going to be destroyed before long.

Another two ion blasts in rapid succession took out his engines. He was effectively dead in space. Davin smashed his fist into the bulkhead in frustration. He was better than this. How had the other ship disabled him so quickly?

He heard the clicks and hisses of his sister sealing herself into an EV suit coming from behind him. "I sure hope it's not Aran," she said.

"Hey, shut up. That's not even remotely funny."

"It's not meant to be."

Davin hissed a curse under his breath as his opponent finally turned off his cloaking device. It was indeed Samus Aran. The other bounty hunter's ship had its menacing lines pointed right at him, every laser cannon and missile launcher locked on to the front viewport.

Malysa chose this moment to come forward again, dressed in an EV suit, sans helmet, and dragging Davin's battle suit behind her. She dropped his suit with a clunk on the deckplates and motioned him out of the pilot's seat. He rose and crossed to where his suit lay on the deck.

It was standard procedure for them to confuse potential enemies by making them think Malysa was alone on the ship while Davin prepared a nasty surprise for boarders. Another of his special modifications, carried over from their last ship, was a life-sign masker that disguised his life-sign as a power relay when he wasn't in his battle suit. That didn't give off anything that sensors could interpret as organic. It worked surprisingly well, and had gotten them out of a few tight spots over the course of their career.

Davin snapped his helmet into place and ducked into the back, near the hatch.

Malysa Ortry took a deep breath and stole a quick look back at her brother. He caught her glance and winked at her through the visor of his helmet as he primed his weapons and ducked out of sight behind a bulkhead. She forced her features into a passive mask and waited for Aran to hail.

She didn't have to wait long.

Malysa answered the hail and the mysterious bounty hunter's armored visage appeared on the main screen.

"This is Samus Aran. I believe you have something that belongs to me." The cold, mechanically filtered voice held no trace of mercy or sympathy.

Malysa struggled fiercely not to let her nervousness show. Ordinarily, she wouldn't care, and would possibly even smart off, but she had heard things about this Aran. She had heard that he cared not for the personal safety of his prey, only that they reach his employer alive, if not necessarily intact. Unless ordered otherwise.

"This is Alysa Beneten. I believe you are mistaken, Mr. Aran. I purchased this ship new. And legally, I might add. I can show you the receipt."

That was at least partially true. She and Davin had taken the precaution of doctoring up registration papers for the ship, with all of them making it look like they had owned the ship for far longer than they actually had. It was possible, after all. The basic ship the Federation had modified for Aran had been available for about a year now.

Aran's inscrutable visor stared at Malysa for a few moments, as if waiting for her to blurt out the truth, which she nearly did.

She was saved when Aran transmitted again. "Prepare to be boarded."

Samus checked her weapons as she waited for the docking procedure to finish. The two hatches sealed together with a hiss of equalizing pressure.

She scowled. She hadn't expected a teenage girl to be aboard. What she had expected was a hotshot space jockey or possibly a Space Pirate who had stolen her new ship to learn about her superior weapons and technology. Samus couldn't shoot that girl and dump her into space. She certainly didn't have room for a stowaway, though.

Samus drifted through the null zone where the two ships' artificial gravity fields canceled each other out and landed on her feet in the other ship.

She found herself looking into the business end of what was obviously a weapon. What surprised her, though, was what was on the other end of that weapon.

It was a man in a Chozo power suit.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Thanks to all who reviewed. I welcome constructive criticism. And no, Davin is not meant to be me. I couldn't think of a name that went well with his character, so I used Davin as a temporary name while I was writing the story. It kind of grew on me, so I left it. Anyway, here's another chapter. Keep reviewing, please!

Two

_Tallon IV_

The first thing Samus did was curse herself for being so foolish. What her sensors had registered as a fluctuating power relay had in fact been the person standing in front of her. As she had pulled the trick once or twice herself, she should have recognized it.

The second thing she did was to allow herself to register surprise at finding another human wielding the technology of the Chozo. Though, given the nature of her surrogate family, it was possible, if unlikely.

She studied the other's suit. Where her Chozo suit was red, his was nonreflective black, and where hers was orange, his was midnight blue, also nonreflective. Finally, the gold-colored parts of her suit were dark gray on her opponent's. It sort of reminded her of the Phazon Suit.

His gun did not completely encase one hand, like hers did, but was more like a rifle and apparently could be used with either hand. She also noticed a pistol holstered on his thigh. Both weapons looked vaguely Chozo in design, though she had never seen any weapons like those during her time among the bird-like race.

"Detatch your gun and drop it on the floor, or I'll put a plasma blast through your brain." He seemed to consider himself a threat to her.

Samus debated whether she could take him out before he fired. If his suit had anywhere near the amount of protective shielding hers did, she would be unable to do him sufficient damage before he did an equivalent amount to her.

Although, she had fourteen energy tanks she had acquired on the planet. Samus doubted he had that many.

His dark eyes glared at her from behind his visor. "Do it now!"

Samus frowned. She didn't really want to start a firefight in here and risk blowing holes in her new ship.

"You know who I am," she said calmly. "Do you think you can kill me before I kill you?" Lightning-quick, she raised her arm cannon and began charging.

They stared at each other for a few moments, waiting for the other to blink. Of course, he couldn't have seen her blink even if she did, seeing as how her visor was reflective.

Her opponent shrugged, and slowly started to lower his rifle. "No guns, then." He made a point of letting her see him switch the safety on, then he dropped the gun on the deck. He raised his armored hands into a defensive posture.

Samus briefly considered shooting the fool anyway, but instead switched off her own weapon and detached it with her left hand, letting it drop to the deck at her feet. She shoved it away with her foot. This wouldn't take any time at all. She could incapacitate the man, possibly questioning him later as to where he stole his Chozo powersuit from, and lock him and the girl in the hold. She'd drop them off on the nearest station or planet, get her new ship repainted, and look for another job worthy of her skills. Provided neither of the thieves did anything stupid. Anything more stupid than trying to steal a ship from Samus Aran.

The man raised an eyebrow. "You're shorter than I expected, Mr. Aran."

Samus was glad he couldn't see her roll her eyes at him.. Most sentients she encountered assumed she was male, simply because of the aggressiveness of her fighting style. Most of the time, she didn't bother to correct them, simply because it was easier for her to not be recognized when she was out of her powersuit.

This idiot, however, she might take the pleasure of correcting. With extreme prejudice. Break a few bones, maybe.

The man in the Chozo suit seemed to be thinking. Thinking on what to do now.

As soon as his gaze shifted slightly, she sprang for him.

-------

Davin managed to get off one kick before Aran was on him, gloved hands searching for his hidden helmet clasps.

Aran managed to find them, and turned his helmet around backwards, nearly breaking his neck in the process.

He flailed blindly, hoping to knock the other hunter away long enough for him to fix his helmet. He felt his boot connect with Aran's torso. Davin smiled grimly as he heard him grunt in pain.

As he fumbled with his helmet, Aran tackled him again and ripped his helmet off entirely. He shoved the bounty hunter away, but too late realized Aran still held his helmet.

Davin tried to duck, but Samus clocked his unprotected head with the helmet and followed with a punch to the jaw with an armored gauntlet. He went down.

The other bounty hunter picked Davin up and bashed him against the wall, punching him in the gut as he did so. His suit caught most of the force of the blow, but it still knocked the wind out of him. Davin caught Aran's next punch in his hand and attempted to twist the other hunter's arm.

But no, Samus was too crafty for that to work. Aran held his arm steady with surprising strength and threaded his leg between Davin's, tripping him and kneeling on his chest.

Davin hooked his ankle around Aran's knee and flipped him over, rolling away to draw his pistol.

"I thought you said no guns, thief." Aran moved with cat-like quickness, darting forward to take hold of Davin's pistol.

Davin grabbed the other hunter's wrist with his left hand, straining to point the weapon at Aran. The armored warrior put both hands on the gun, putting all the strength a Chozo powersuit could provide to forcing the weapon's muzzle to point at Davin's unprotected head.

It became a contest of wills, both combatants pitting the full extent of their power against the other. Davin poured all of his concentration into keeping the pistol pointed away from him. It began inching closer and closer back toward Aran. He redoubled his efforts.

That's when the spiked knee caught him in the abdomen. He dropped the gun in surprise to clutch his stomach. The spike hadn't pierced his suit, of course, but the force of the motion knocked him backwards. His hands scrabbled against the wall, searching for a handhold.

Aran planted a boot in the center of his chest and contemptuously knocked him down. Not willing to give up just yet, he struggled violently to get up, but Aran punched him in the jaw, then grabbed Davin's head and began bashing it against the floor.

As he began to black out, Davin Ortry reflected what a colossal mistake stealing this ship had turned out to be.

-------

Malysa took a deep breath as the two ships docked. Okay, so now Aran had them and was coming through to kill them, most likely. But Davin could take the other bounty hunter, couldn't he?

Maybe. Davin was only twenty-two, and nobody knew for sure how old Aran was. Maybe he was old and tired.

Yeah, right. Samus Aran had destroyed an entire planet's worth of Space Pirates all by himself. Or was it herself? Malysa didn't even know if Aran was a man or a woman.

Davin was good, but he was definitely no Samus. After how easily Aran had disabled their ship, the hunter had to be better than Davin. Her brother had once taken on an entire squadron of Federation fighters with this very ship, and won, escaping with minor damage. On another occasion, he had flown circles around a Space Pirate dropship before causing it to crash on the planet's surface.

But Aran had taken him out like he was nothing. A worthless amateur. He had no chance against the legendary hunter, she decided.

Malysa heard her brother talking to Aran, then sounds of a fight erupted from the back.

Fearing the worst, she grabbed an EMP grenade and a laser rifle from Davin's arsenal and dashed for the hatch.

She saw Samus Aran beating Davin senseless and sprang into action. Malysa primed and threw the grenade in one smooth motion, then snapped the rifle into firing position and armed it.

The EMP grenade had the desired affect. All of the electrical systems in Aran's suit began shutting down.

Malysa knew that Chozo-designed suits recovered quickly from this kind of thing, so she fired her rifle directly into Aran's visor, knowing this would only disorient the hunter. Chozo suits were too well shielded for it to do much more than that.

She sprang forward, but Aran's booted foot hit her right in the stomach. She was surprised Samus recovered this fast.

Rolling with the impact, like her brother taught her, she took advantage of her smaller size and darted between the hunter's legs. She jumped up onto Aran's back, but the hunter just flipped her off, slamming her into the deck.

Malysa's breath went out in a rush. Aran grabbed her by the front of her Extra-Vehicular suit and threw her up into the ceiling, catching her in the back with a boot on the way down. Malysa felt a sharp pain in her lower back as she slammed into the far wall. Aran stepped over to her and picked her up by the front of her EV suit again.

"I don't want to kill you, little girl. You should give up while you still can."

"Up yours."

"Suit yourself." The hunter threw her across the room again.

When she landed, Malysa noticed that the maintenance hatch near her was open, and one of the power cables was unhooked on one side. Now she remembered. Davin had been working on the secondary starboard missile launcher, as he had noticed that it was behaving erratically. He'd unhooked the power, so as not to shock himself while he was working. But, the unhooked cable just might still be live. Sometimes Davin had to patch things on the run, so he had gotten into the habit of leaving the power on while he was working on things. Malysa told him all the time that he was going to shock himself to death one of these days, but he would just grin and wave her off. Had he left the power on, or had he listened to her, finally?

Malysa decided to take that chance. As Aran stepped closer, she groaned and rolled over, her hand coming to rest on the insulated covering of the power cable.

Aran reached down to grab her again, but before the hunter's hand could take hold she jabbed the end of the power cable into Aran's thigh.

Malysa's gamble paid off. Aran's suit seized up as the electricity coursed through it and its systems reset themselves. She knew that the hunter would be mobile again in a few seconds, so, ignoring her screaming ribs, she reached up to Aran's helmet, hoping the release clasps were in the same place as on her brother's suit.

They were.

She ripped off Aran's helmet while the other was still woozy and drove her fist repeatedly into the hunter's unprotected face.

Only when Aran slumped backwards did Malysa allow her surprise to register.

The famed hunter, Samus Aran, was a woman?

"Well, isn't that interesting." she said aloud.

Malysa decided she didn't care. Aran was still dangerous.

Making sure Aran was still unconscious, Malysa stumbled over to her brother, who was deathly still. After checking for a pulse, and mouthing silent thanks when she found one, she searched through the compartments in his suit until she found a set of stun cuffs and some sedatives.

She pulled Aran's gauntlets and boots off, then clicked the stun cuffs into place around the hunter's wrists and ankles.

Aran started to stir, so Malysa jabbed her with the sedatives, doubling the normal dosage.

_That ought to keep her out for a while_, thought Malysa.

Only then did she allow herself to collapse with exhaustion.

-------

Sorry for the short chapter, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. I promise a long Chapter 3.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: I apologize for the excessively long delay in this chapter's release. I sort of lost interest in this story after I realized that the outline I had wouldn't work very well.

I recently replayed Metroid Prime 1 and 2, and remembered this story, and particularly this chapter, which I had abandoned. I've revised my outline, and hope to update this regularly now. Prepare for some twists!

Three

_Tallon IV surface:_

_Magmoor Caverns_

Davin looked... well, peaceful was kind of a cliche when describing a sleeping person.

But, it did fit. He didn't look angry, like when they were in battle or on a job that had gone wrong.

He didn't look serious, like he did when he was ready to make a difficult sniper shot or concentrating on flying.

Malysa wished he at least looked happy, like he had most of the time they lived with the Chozo hermit Kirow.

She wished they had never left the kind old avian. But, she supposed, it was unavoidable. Her brother had chosen the path of the Warrior, naturally, and had been trained as such, but her own training had been interrupted by the Space Pirate invasion which had driven the Ortrys from the planet. They had found out later that the Pirates were totally unaware of the hermit's presence, and had come to the world to strip-mine it.

When they came back a few weeks later, the entire planet was under Pirate control, and there was no trace of the hermit to be found. Davin thought the old Chozo was probably dead by now, but Malysa refused to give up hope. She and her brother had been searching for another colony ever since, but had been unsuccessful.

So, to support themselves, they had taken up bounty hunting, finding the skills Kirow taught them were most useful in that particular profession.

Malysa brushed a lock of hair off Davin's forehead. Just for a moment, a hint of a smile quirked at one corner of his mouth.

She squeezed his hand, and, checking the monitor one more time, she went to check on the prisoner. She intended to get some questions answered before her brother woke up.

-------

Samus first noticed the cuffs when she attempted to hold her aching head after it drove her awake. When she tested her bonds, she received an electric shock. Stun cuffs. Escapable, if you had an extremely high tolerance for pain. Which she did. She took stock of her surroundings. She seemed to be in the cargo hold of a small vessel. Probably the Ortrys' ship. _My ship, _the Hunter reminded herself.

The fight aboard the Ortrys' ship started coming back to her. First the man in the Chozo powersuit had fought her, then, when she seemed to be winning, the girl from the transmission had jumped her with some kind of electromagnetic pulse weapon. Then, the girl had overloaded her suit's systems with a power cable. An amateur tactic, that only an amateur should have succumbed to.

_If I continue to be this foolish, I deserve whatever's coming to me, _Samus thought harshly.

She heard footsteps, then beeping as someone unlocked the door to the room she was in. Samus quickly leaned back against the wall again, coming as close to her original position as she could remember. Closing her eyes just enough to appear still unconscious, she tensed her muscles in preparation.

As the girl walked in, Samus noticed one of her hands was partially hidden behind a fold of the baggy coverall she was wearing.

The Hunter waited for just the right moment to strike, planning to sweep her legs out and trip the girl. Just before she acted, though, the girl revealed that her obscured hand held a pistol, which she pointed with practiced steadiness directly between Samus' eyes.

"According to the camera, you've been awake for a while now, so you can quit the whole pretending-to-be-asleep-so-you-can-jump-up-and-kill-me thing. Because no matter how good you are, you can't possibly jump me before this thing puts a hole in your head." The girl tightened her grip on the gun.

"You're pretty arrogant, you know that?" Samus said.

"Whatever. Look, bounty hunter, I'm not planning to kill you so long as you don't try to kill us again. But, to ensure your cooperation, I'm afraid I'm going to put a restraint collar on you."

"I'm sure that won't be necessary, little girl. I don't want to kill you either, so long as you don't try to kill me." The Hunter had used restraint collars on prisoners herself, and had no desire to have one put on her. The collars were effective because once you put one on someone, the collar would slowly choke them if the handler's vital signs dipped below healthy norms, or if the prisoner got too far away.

"Don't call me little girl. If you have to call me something, call me Malysa."

"Fine. Now, what do you want?"

Malysa stretched her neck and yawned. The gun did not waver a millimeter. "You're going to help me fix my ship."

"You mean _my_ ship. It belongs to me."

"Who has the gun, and who's in stun cuffs? Another smart remark out of you, and I'll increase the charge." The girl popped a couple of the knuckles of her free hand. "Now, I suppose I should tell you that we're on the surface of the planet, near Magmoor Caverns, to be exact."

"Where's my other ship?"

Malysa sighed. "In the hanger of a Fed warship by now."

"What?!" The Hunter didn't usually show much emotion, but this was shocking. What was the Federation doing at Tallon IV?

"A while after I knocked you out and got Davin stabilized, this gigantic Federation cruiser showed up and spit out half a dozen dropships and two wings of fighters. So, I turned on the cloaking device and-"

"Wait, you had a cloaking device and didn't use it when you fought me?"

The girl actually seemed embarrassed, which was surprising. "Um, I kind of... borrowed yours."

Samus was mildly amused. "Continue."

"Well, you shot up our ship pretty good, so I scrounged some parts from your ship. While I was in there, I noticed the cloaking device and sensor maskers were compatible with our systems, so I took them, too. But, this ship isn't entirely Federation technology anymore. The shield generators, the hyperdrive engines, and the blaster cannons are stolen Space Pirate prototypes that we've modified, and you fried a few of those good with your ion cannon."

Samus smirked. Malysa frowned at her, but continued.

"Anyway, I was about to transfer some more parts from your ship over when the Feds showed up, and since you so kindly disabled our 'drive, I had to disengage and head for the planet. I don't think they got us on their sensors, but don't be surprised if we run into a few squads of Marines down here. The Feddies are pretty pissed at us right now."

"What else did you steal from the Federation besides this ship?"

"An experimental hyperdrive reactor that uses only a sixteenth as much fuel as conventional reactors. Apparently, it was quite expensive to develop, and we stole the only working prototype." Malysa sat down on a crate and rested her gun on her leg, still pointing at Samus.

"How did you two get something like that from the Federation? You seem pretty amateur to me. And I thought you said your reactor was Pirate tech."

Malysa scowled at her, but otherwise ignored the remark. "It is. The guy we stole the Fed reactor for said he'd refit our ship for free if we could get it to him. But, enough about us. You," she pointed the gun at Samus again, "are going to help me find enough parts down here to fix the hyperdrive. I noticed quite a few Pirate installations down here, and there's bound to be at least one ship with a 'drive in it. Unless, of course, you blew them all up, miss fearsome bounty hunter."

"Not all of them." The Hunter said with just the barest hint of a smile.

"Right," the girl said nonchalantly. She reached into the crate she was sitting on and pulled out a restraint collar. Keeping her pistol aimed at Samus' face, she leaned forward and clipped the thin metal strip into place around Samus' neck. She slipped the accompanying wristband onto her own arm and tapped it twice.

"There. Now I can count on no further funny business from you. I can also trigger it remotely, so there's no use jumping me when I unlock your cuffs." The girl stood up. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere," she said with a sneer.

Samus felt the collar tighten slightly for every few meters Malysa drew away. She hoped the girl at least gave her back her powersuit. Magmoor Caverns was death to anyone without proper protection. Plus, her suit would automatically deactivate the collar.

------

_Tallon IV orbit:_

_GFS Valhalla _

"Found something, sir."

Captain Tyraj Kolos turned to look at what PFC Arnak was holding in his gloved hand. It was a piece of collection tape containing three hairs, roughly eight centimeters long, color blue.

"Send them to Medical and have them run a DNA test. If it matches the Ortry girl, notify me immediately."

"Yes, sir." Arnak left.

Kolos was elated. If he managed to catch the notoriously slippery Ortrys, it would mean a promotion for sure. He might even make Commodore. The next step after that was Admiral, then Fleet Admiral, and then possibly even Sector Admiral!

Kolos returned his attention to examining the captured vessel. It was sparsely furnished, and as far as Captain Kolos could tell, not decorated.

It matched the description of one of the known vessels of the Hunter, Samus Aran, and there had been reports of Aran in this area recently.

But, if the hairs that Arnak had found belonged to Malysa Ortry, then what was the girl doing on Aran's ship? Had Samus managed to capture the Ortrys? But, there was no evidence so far of the brother, Davin.

Further examination revealed that several components from the ship's shield generator and weapon systems were missing, and apparently, this ship had once possessed an illegal cloaking device, plus a wide array of sensor maskers, most of which were also prohibited under Federation law. Most were missing.

Kolos' nose started to itch. Looking around to make sure nobody could see him, he opened the faceplate of his helmet and scratched at it with a gloved hand. He closed the faceplate and resumed his inspection of the vessel.

What had happened here? The ship was found adrift in space, the security systems disabled, some by force, and the crewman at sensors thought he had detected, just for a second, another ship in close proximity to this one. Kolos had personally reviewed the sensor logs, but there was insufficient data to determine anything conclusive. It _could_ have been a ship that cloaked as soon as they came out of hyperspace, but then again it could have been a minor glitch in the sensors. It could have been anything!

Kolos shook his head. He decided to leave the rest of the ship inspection to his crew and went back to the bridge.

------

_Tallon IV surface:_

_Magmoor Caverns_

Davin's mouth was dry. It felt like someone had stuffed a bag of cotton balls in his mouth, and tossed in some clothing desiccates just for the fun of it. Regen sleep tended to do that to you.

He was suddenly rewarded by a cool mouthful of water, provided by a straw. He sucked greedily at it until he discovered that the container was now empty.

Davin tried opening his eyes. The first thing he saw was that he was in his bunk, and that the lighting had been dimmed. The second thing he saw was his sister's familiar face, set in a worried expression.

"Hey, Davin. How are you?"

He tried to sit up and instantly regretted it. "Well, I feel like somebody just tried to use my head as a sledgehammer, but other than that, okay. Got any more water?"

He tried to sit up again, slowly this time, and Malysa handed him another cup of water.

With a jolt he remembered the events prior to his becoming unconscious. "Where's our friend, the bounty hunter? Did he capture us?"

Malysa got a self-satisfied smirk on her face, an expression he found at once endearing and annoying. "_She_ is currently restrained in the cargo hold, since you never got around to finishing this ship's prisoner cages."

Davin briefly considered expressing surprise that Aran was a woman, but then he realized his little sister had succeeded where he had failed. "Way to go, banshee. How'd you do it?"

"Jabbed her with a power cable, then pulled off her helmet and pumped her full of sedatives."

He grinned as he put down the now-empty cup. "Lacks finesse, but I suppose it got the job done."

She mock-glared at him. "I didn't see you do any better." Her face got abruptly serious. "But she almost killed you, you know. You've got some pretty serious head injuries, so no moving around until I say so."

"Yes, Doctor. Anything else?"

"Just get plenty of rest. I'm going out to find parts for the hyperdrive with our new friend." She started to stand up, but he caught her arm.

"Say what now? I don't think I heard you right. It seemed like you said that you were going outside into a hostile, radiation-soaked planet with the woman who tried to kill us a few hours ago."

Malysa heaved an exasperated sigh. "I put a restraint collar on her, plus she promised not to kill me." He started to speak, but she interrupted him. "I don't like it either, but she's been all over the surface and probably has detailed maps of the places we'll need to go. Plus, she's packing a considerable amount of firepower in that suit of hers."

"My suit's got quite a punch, too. I want you to wear it when you're out there." Davin shifted in his bed, attempting to find a position that didn't make his head throb. He had to give up. "I guess I can do your job for once."

He was referring to the fact that Malysa usually stayed behind in whatever ship they had, remotely hacked into the security system or accessed maps of whatever building or compound they were breaking into, and just generally provided whatever support he needed. Mostly a safe, and as his sister put it, boring-as-hell job.

"Just as long as it doesn't go like the Beowulf job." she said. He sighed in agreement. That one hadn't ended well.

Malysa rose and tapped a few buttons on the medical monitor she'd hooked into his bunk. "You call as soon as you're awake again. You should be fine by then."

Davin nodded as he yawned and slipped back into regenerative sleep.

------

Samus snapped the last piece of her powersuit into place before she picked up her helmet, holding it under one arm.

The girl was dressed in her brother's Chozo powersuit, and as an interesting detail, Samus had noted that the suit adjusted itself to fit the smaller girl.

Malysa met her eyes briefly before donning her own helmet and snapping it into place. Samus heard the familiar click and whine as the suit pressurized itself, making the wearer almost completely cut off from the outside environment.

The Hunter put her helmet on and activated the comlink, adjusting the frequency until the two suits were locked onto each other. Their communications wouldn't be readable by anyone other than themselves, and wouldn't be externally audible, in case stealth was required.

"Ready?" Samus wondered if hyperdrive parts were all the girl was really after on the planet.

The girl tapped her forearm, where the control device for the restraint collar still was. A silent reminder to the bounty hunter as to who was really in charge.

Samus didn't bother to repress her angry sigh as they stepped out of the ship and into the hellish caverns of Magmoor.


End file.
